#3 layers for this one actually. one for the drawing one for the glow and one for my signature

[centralcanoncontinuum]

[mihii-i]

Hi love 💕 May I request comfort/fluff one shot Arlecchino x fem Reader who developed a terminal illness a few years back and is now often bedridden but is getting better however Arlecchino is still super overprotective of her

white light.

Pairings: arlecchino x fem!reader

CW: sfw, female reader, terminally ill reader, angst, but there’s comfort yay I know yall love this, LOTS of mentions of death, like a ridiculous amount, dw reader doesn’t die but grim reaper bullies us every chance he gets like damn, or is the grim reaper a she, that means my friend is immortal since if death is a woman it’ll never come for them, sorry off topic, very soft arle, yes we love our soft king walskskfj, why is the shower so cold help me, not proofread.

A/N: THIS WAS SO FUN TO WRITE AND IT TURNED OUT SO NICE HOLY also, school is starting soon so I might have to go on break in couple months but no worries I can find some time to write and it’ll be a while into the year until i actually need a break yk <3 🕯️

The fluffy layered clouds hovering in the sky slowly parted themselves to reveal illuminating gleams of sunlight pouring into the room through the window curtains situated to the right of your bed. Slow gusts of wind began to join the warmth of the gold light, brushing along your skin and causing an array of goosebumps to bloom along your arm. You were lucky. Not too long back, your immobile body was enveloped into the same bed, a sickly hue painting your face as your pale tinged lips could only part to cough out a few strained noises.

Perhaps the gods had took pity on you? You supposed you’d never figure out the answer as to how your body curved back from a terminal illness in its final stage. It was supposed to be incurable, and your body back then seemed to agree with what should have been. You were dangerously dangling right above the realm of death, only a hair apart from succumbing to your imminent demise. The doctor who noted your worsening state only had a strike of pity in her voice whenever she’d inform Arlecchino of your current condition, shaking her head as the words: “she won’t make it.” muffled through the door seperating your room from the outside.

It hurt to hear. Not for you per say, but more to hear the emptiness in Arlecchino’s voice when she attempted to dismiss the doctor’s words coldly. She didn’t want to hear that. She didn’t want to hear that your condition was only drawing you closer and closer to death, she wanted to hear that you atleast had a small chance of surviving. As much as she tried to choke back the bitter pain in her unwavering voice, she always clung onto that small sliver of hope deep down, internally calling out to a sea of nothingness in hopes that something would come help you.

Sudden news of your recovery, or rather your condition suddenly improving one day was nothing short of a miracle. It shouldn’t have been possible at all. You were around the final month mark, your entire body burning with an agonizing rush of soreness as you wanted to plead for death to take you away from the unbearable discomfort searing every limb of your ghastly and thin form. That night you had gone to bed, hoping to escape the aching pain of your illness eating away at you. That was when you saw it. You dreamt of a faint glow of white light—or was it a slight pale yellow? The dream was vague and confusing, and held no meaning at all. The light simply danced in circles before you as your life trajectory seared across your eyes.

However, the dream must have meant something.

The next morning you had awoken, your body feeling much lighter all of a sudden, as you had the strength to now sit up completely. Hands carefully massaging the thick blanket draped over your lap, you blinked in confusion upon realizing that you were indeed alive and able to sit up. Sure, you were still incapable of moving around or sitting up for long, but originally, you weren’t even able to raise your body a quarter of the way up, as it would simply result in your spine slamming back into the sunken, comfortable mattress.

When the doctor made her way into the room, performing her checkups which she believed to be futile and tragic, her initial expression of sorrow shifted to one of quick shock. This shouldn’t have been even the slightest bit possible. Arlecchino’s reaction was all the more endearing the moment the newly discovered news made its way to her. You’d never forget the rare smile of pure relief and happiness crossing her usually stoic front, seeming as if Arlecchino was glowing in that moment.

She had attempted to clear her throat and position herself upright, concealing the internal delight bubbling in her mind at that moment. The door had softly creaked open, the sway of the old hinges on your bedroom door being the only noise, along with the quiet howls of wind, resounding within the cell of a room that held your life by a mere thread.

You simply sat there, your scrawny form nearly engulfed by the heavy blankets cascaded onto your lap as the light livened the hue of your face. And when that sweet smile made its way onto your lips weakly upon seeing the harbinger hover before your bed, Arlecchino had to suppress every urge of hers to hem you between her arms in a tight hug and never let go. She wanted to embrace you with every drop of love and affection lingering in her heart as her blackened hands tightened into your back, like a promise to never let you go. Since then, your condition had steadily improved. Months passed, and then years. At this very moment, you now had the ability to walk around and perform minor tasks adequately, yet you still remained bedridden for the majority of your time.

A light pain slowly overtook the side of your chest abruptly, drawing out a few heavy coughs from your throat as your palm pushed against your left breast in an attempt to soothe the throb pushing and pulling against your heart. Quiet ticks of the clock seemed to inch in sync with the rugged beats of your heart, both echoing throughout the room in a sort of twisted harmony. Although your condition had gotten better, storms of weakness and coughs would still persist through, as this was quite a serious illness you suffered from.

The silk white blankets enveloped your limp frame, cascading over your body and situated slightly below your chest, while the back of your head burrowed into the pillows to bask in the favorable comfort enshrouded around every outline of your lounged body. Your chest rhythmically rose and fell as you choked out a few labored breaths, still clenching your fingers against the fabric of your loose shirt covering your chest.

Your vision suddenly started a gradual spin, objects within your range slowly drawn out of focus, and not taking long for the spin to pick up the pace as your vision suddenly shifted to a bleary mess of the room. Head tilting back, you rasped out a line of shaky breaths as the frightening episode of dizziness quickly subsided as soon as it began, causing a sense of panic to rush through you briefly while your chest rose and fell in uneven motions from your initial fright. In that very moment, a small screech of wooden hinges caught your attention, your head carefully raising as to not incite any possible negative reaction from your sensitive body.

Swift and heavy clicks of heels prodded across the room, a sound you’d recognize anywhere even if you were miles away. You raised your head barely even level to the headboard, delivering Arlecchino a feeble smile as her eyes softened upon meeting yours. Slowly, you took her hand into yours, palm resting over the top of her defined knuckles as your thumb circled along the cursed gradient of her hands gently. She could only breathe out a grateful sigh, her head dropping in a restful state as she rested herself onto your shoulder affectionately.

“Are you feeling any better?” She almost immediately questioned, her usually composed eyes having a flicker of concern dashed across them. Her eyes wandered along your frail body, the hints of worry still subtly etched onto her face as her grasp on your hand below hers grew increasingly taut and stiff as she awaited your answer. As much as you wanted to chuckle and tell her you were okay, you clearly couldn’t even say that much.

“Hm. Same as usual. Can’t move my legs well today, but I’ll live.” You casually answered, not taking in the impact your words might have placed onto Arlecchino.

Live.

She was so glad you were able to live.

Arlecchino suddenly dragged her teeth along each other, her mouth remaining closed as the grit of her teeth quietly bounced off of her cheek into her eardrums. It took everything she had to swallow back that wretched feeling boiling up to her throat, her heart wrenching and flooding with discomfort upon hearing the way you threw your life around so casually in your words. She had always been extensively protective over you ever since your condition deteriorated, yet it grew exponentially once you began to recover over the years. She’d always tend to you, sometimes never leaving your side for hours on end as she’d just sit there, head lowered and lips pushed against your frail hand.

Her grip on your hand tensed noticeably, making you shift your eyes up to her lowered dark gaze, staring off into an endless abyss as her expression just seemed…soulless and empty at the mere thought of your passing away. She was afraid. Afraid that just when she believes that her beloved would live despite being in poor condition, she’d walk into your room one day to discover your heart dead still, body completely limp and deceased.

The thought of that made her hand noticeably quiver between yours, disturbing images of your possible sudden death plaguing her mind like a broken subliminal record trying to shatter her soul by tearing away the one person she loves most in this cruel world. It was indeed cruel, as this very world had targeted the reaper to loom over the side of your bed at all times, carefully awaiting the moment to take you away from Teyvat. Arlecchino internally cursed herself at the idea that perhaps this punishment was because of her. She wanted you to be spared. You weren’t the one with blood on your hands, she was.

Despite her agonizing thoughts gnawing at the back of her mind, your sudden firm grip on her hand made her head snap back up abruptly, eyes locking onto your thin fingers cupping her shaky hand in place. If she could, Arlecchino would cry at this very moment, allow herself to shed a couple tears. Yet she knew she couldn’t. She didn’t want to worry you any further, especially in your current state.

“Arle, I’m staying. Please, don’t worry about me. I am better now, right?”

“I know. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t around.”

It was evident that Arlecchino had a difficult time a few years ago, when you were announced to die in under a couple months. She had to mentally prepare herself to lose you soon. She was used to it, you were just another person in her life that slipped away too soon, right?

But she couldn’t.

She couldn’t bear losing you. It was too much even for her.

Arlecchino needed you in her life, and she’d wipe out the entirety of the world just to keep you safe.

Your hand reached up to graze along the skin of her cheek, smiling as she instinctively leaned into your touch. Her eyes fluttered shut as she held your hand in place against her cheek, opening her eyelids once more to gaze at you lovingly with red x-marked eyes.

“Hey Arle, I’m still not feeling the best today…so do you think you could-“

You didn’t even get a chance to finish your hesitant sentence as she lowered herself onto the side of your bed, squeezing herself next to you as her arms gently circled your torso and grasped you against her. You only hummed out a content sigh as you felt your slouched back press to her upright chest, the difference in your postures just making the moment oddly romantic and sweet. Arlecchino’s face buried into your shoulder, intaking a soft inhale as if she missed your scent clouding her senses every time she was close to you.

It didn’t take long for you to drift off to sleep in Arlecchino’s arms as you curled up into the warm blankets piled over both of you. Arlecchino, still awake, quietly shifted her weight onto her side to glance down at you, smiling softly upon seeing your peaceful rested expression. Maybe finally, she rinsed the lingering blood splattered on her hands that led you to this awful fate. She’d rinse it a thousand times if it meant that you would remain safe like this for as long as you lived.

However in this very moment? Arlecchino had forgotten every sense of dread clawing at her constantly, instead focusing on your huddled up form engulfed between her protective grasp.

She swore that she would never let you go again, and she would treasure every inch of you. Not even death can do you two part.

A/N: omg I kept switching between being proud of this and being not so proud bc I had to stop midway through and I lost my train of thought AUUUSHSHDBFN anyway yayayayashshdhd I loved writing this so much AND CALM DOWN ON THE ARLE REQUESTS HOLY SH-

ok bye I’m gonna go on character ai cause I can’t sleep to bed

[mosneakers]

Reaper's Wardrobe Collection- Information Packet 📝

I didn't want to bloat the original post up with all of this(it's a lot) and it took way longer than I expected! Sorry I've been so strapped for time recently, balancing life (and ironically—death, unfortunately) but I've finally found some time to include some additional information about the newly released (December- Friday the 13th!!) Reaper's Wardrobe Collection, which by the way, you've all been SO sweet and kind and receptive to, thank you eternally 🥺💗 Below is some additional information if you're interested, just because one, I'm a certified yapper, but also I like to include that with my cc when I can <3 Please, if you use these items for your sims, TAG ME!! I would seriously be so happy to see how you use them 😍

Lamplight Dress (+Glowy Version) and Final Layer Accessory Lingerie

A sensual little number that will draw them in like a moth to the lamplight. This versatile dress comes in a variety of swatches, including even sheerer options for when you really want to turn up the warmth. You can pair it with the Final Layer Lingerie—a maxis match accessory lingerie set found in the glove category—or any other accessory underwear to layer and customize your look.

Lamplight Dress: 44 Swatches Final Layer Lingerie: 26 Swatches

And for those special sims who are the light of your life, or maybe just get lost often, try the bonus glowy version that actually glows up!

Both dresses are standalone, so neither rely on the other to work. You can freely have both in your game at the same time or just one, whichever you prefer.

Lamplight Dress-Glowy Version: 11 Swatches

Deathflower Pendant

Yes, it's the one and only deathflower, now wearable! Meshing this as a beginner almost sent me over to the other side, but I'm happy to say that with the help and support of my lovely husband, I got through it. Which I'm grateful for, because I needed this in my game. Available for ages kids and up, and comes in 9 swatches.

Death Grip Ear Cuff/Eternal Whispers Earrings

Embrace the whispers of the beyond with the Death Grip Ear Cuff and Eternal Whispers Earrings. This one can be a little finicky. So because of how the UV_1 maps work, there doesn't seem to be a reasonable way to make the ear cuff move along with the ear slider, at least that I'm aware of. So the best we can do is to remove the ear cuff entirely or shape your sims ear to work with the cuff. I know, not ideal, sorry :( It was created with ear preset 1 in mind, but you might be able to mold your own ears with some sliding around.

The set is designed to be worn either together, or separated. The cuff (a metal skeleton hand) can technically be worn with other earrings, but due to texture constraints, most textures conflict. Although not all results look bad so definitely feel free to play around and make some happy mistakes!

Whimsical Wings Knit Sweater

A little flutter of quaint, a little flutter of spooky— What started out as an attempt to convert the Life and Death one for toddlers into a kids version, but ended up basically recreating it. However, there are a few more cute swatches special for kids that fit the theme. 16 swatches in total.

First Grimpressions Zip Up Onesie

For the little reapers in training— This cozy zip up onesie is perfect for jammies, costumes, or playtime, and is available for both toddlers and children. Although children get a few extra bonus dingy social bunny swatches reminiscent of the social bunny from ts2. The rest are reaper and "freezer-boney" themed.

Grimborn Onesie

My pride and joy :’) this is one of the first ones I started working on, a little hooded onesie subtly shaped like death himself. Many of the swatches feature an embroidered crow with the daintiest little heart, but throughout the rest of the 8 swatches you'll also find little wings, a skull, and and a freezer-boney.

Reaper Sleepers

How could your days ever be grim when you have these adorable little reapers bouncing around with you each step you take? These were what started this whole project, honestly. I was making a few things for Norvis, and obviously he needed a pair of house slippers, being a middle-aged son of the Grim Reaper, obviously. That's when I decided it might be fun to not only share them, but make this into a whole collection— then it snowballed from there. They're not the most perfectly meshed items, but I think that gives them some character ^̮^

Robes Of Respite

Just the Life and Death Employee Reaper Robes, but with no hood, because sometimes we all need a breather. I did tighten the rope around the waist a bit so your sims can show off that figure when they're reaping someone's soul and dragging them away to the unknown. I also enhanced the textures a bit and added a bonus dark swatch. One for Male frames and one Female.

Prep Me Pumps

Just a cute pair of soft goth pumps to make a statement, complete with the most darling little bow placed right under your achilles heel so you can prepped for anything, anytime. 13 swatches in total.

Spirit Sprinter Athleisure Set

Even though all 4 of these cozy swatches are adorned with a zip up ribbon corset, there's no need to sacrifice your comfort to look snatched. Whether you're bumming out at home handing candy out to trick-or treaters, or training hard to be the best reaper the company has ever seen, this outfit has you covered.

Reaper Scythe Accessory

This is just the regular Reaper's Scythe from the game, made into an accessory by leo_morg on MTS. Link here They don't seem to be active anymore or have a TOU. It is just an EA item from the game but I wanted to properly cover my bases when it comes to crediting, since they were the ones who did most of the work. I just made some edits to the mesh and textures. At first I was just using it for screenshots and previews but since its a fine piece of cc I figured someone might find it useful so why let it go to waste?

Eclipse Cloak-Illuminated, Eclipse Cloak-Veiled, and Halfway Hair

For the adventurous souls daring enough to tread that liminal bridge between the afterlife and the mortal world, shroud yourself in mystery with these deluxe reapers cloaks- This is the first hair I've ever created with the sole purpose of making it specifically for a hat, although I'm happy with how it looks with no hood too! As for the cloaks, I just wanted some separated dramatic cloaks/hoods for storytelling, both a version that is up, and down. Goes in the hat category. They're a lot of material in a small space so the textures aren't the the most beautiful up close—but at the very least they're not going to conflict with pretty much any clothing (unless that clothing item doesn't obey the allotted space, of course) The veiled version is kinda neat because it functions/chops as a hat, so it works with a select handful of hairs. The hair has your standard 24 EA swatches, and the cloaks have 8 matching swatches.

Morgue Moth Vintage Romper

If you're one of my readers, you may have noticed that I occasionally like to use moth motifs from time to time. They go hand in hand with the death theme and they're also just really pretty ♥‿♥ You'll see them a lot throughout this project, and this item is no exception. I especially love this romper because it's super versatile— all 11 moth adorned swatches make for an easy go-to outfit for those hot days, but also work as adorable pajamas or vintage swimwear, and have that whimsical-macabre twist that is so mothsneakers ✨

Plaid To The Bone Shirt

11 swatches featuring a grungy patchwork of button down flannels stitched together, layered with a haphazardly placed tee with grim but colorful graphics for that effortlessly unkempt look. Wanted to make sure we got something for the men too, but of course our girls can throw it on as well, if they want!

Cadaver-demia Coat Set

Fight the biting chill of the morgue freezers, or stay warm on your haunting moonlit walks in the cemetery, and look hot doing it! Lately this has been my irl go to look when I want to look put-together but don't want to think too much about what to wear. simply mini-skirt+shirt+coat, pair it with your favorite tights and boots and you're good to go 😊 Keeping that same kind of idea with this piece, I really love full-body outfits so I don't have to think too much about putting an outfit together, I always feel like the cc-world needs more full-body outfits (that aren't just dresses, but complete looks you feel me?) I digress, this set has 8 swatches.

Thanatolo-dress Outfit

Give off Thanatologist's day off vibes in this studious casual full-body set. 18 swatches; featuring a fitted turtleneck sweater, (some with grim graphics, some plain) layered under a cropped plaid button down top, and paired with a high-waisted corduroy mini skirt.

Once again, huge thank you to every single one of you who have reblogged and shared, or had such kind things to say about this collection. It's been so much fun to make, and I'm so glad y'all encourage my outlet and more importantly, that you're encouraging ALWAYS FREE CC 🥰 because there is no space for greed in this community let's just have fun ok? Please enjoy, please tag me if you use it (because I'm dying to what you do with it) and you can find the collection here 🖤

[firefly-factory]

Closeups and comparisons from my "Arbiter's Grounds" painting :D

The lighting on the hands took me *ages* to figure out (I finally made my own ref) because of the flame-glow coming from every direction.

More thoughts about the drawing/design process under the cut <3

I loved finding different ways to incorporate yiga designs into his robes/outfit (besides the obvious mask/color change). His belt is based off a blademaster's belt (but in gold) and I changed the design on his chest to be the inverted eye (it's a little hard to see at this angle but I promise it's there).

I also noticed as I was rendering the molduga (first time drawing one of those guys but im so happy with how it's turned out!!) that they have gold accents in their fins that sort of echoed the gold trim on his robes.

Finally, one thing that came in super handy with this painting was using a greyscale layer to intermittently check contrast (especially as i got further into the rendering and started playing with dramatic lighting. I actually really liked how it looked, so here's the black and white version of my painting <3

[the-yawning-cat]

OMG hi!! First of all—your art?? Literal perfection?? I’ve been following since like… your third post (I think??) and I scream a little every time I see you upload. ANYWAY I was wondering!! How do you do your shading?? Like what brushes? What app?? How many layers are we talking?? I’m nosy and also in awe and trying to learn from the gods pls help

AWE IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY TO KNOW MY ART CAN MAKE SOMEONE SQUEAL AND KICK THEIR LEGS XD!♡ have a little sketch as a thank you 🫴

Ok- I'm so relieved to finally have someone to teach the little things I've learned over the years! ! Everything under the cut!✂️

●A big thing I think with doing shadow and lighting comes from understanding your art style, there's actually a lot of different ways to shade or highlight, and sometimes the way can match the style! With me, if I'm doing traditional drawing on paper, I'll either go realistic with shading or I'll do cross-hatching, basically a bunch of scratches where shadow should be, search it up, it's interesting to see the different types of shading!

●With my current art style on digital, I actually don't do much shadow! It's a bunch of layers of highlights! And only in places where I think it's of extreme need for shadow, I'll do a light layer of shadow! (These places being places like under the head where the neck starts, under the arms, where skin touches skin or something, and just little crevices here and there.)

● For the app I use: I use Sketchbook! I've used this app for over three years now maybe? And I've yet to find a better one, I love this app! And for the highlights and shadows, I'll actually use one of the sharper edged brushes, like one of the ink pens, instead of using a brush with a faded or soft edge, but this changes for highlights if I change my style, the shadows usually stay sharp!

●And lastly, for number of layers I end up with- the max of layers I usually end up with is around 3-4 layers! One for the line art, one for the basic color, one for (sometimes) both highlights and shadows, so that I can erase a tweak them without having to worry about messing up the color, and one for any more effects, like making the eyes glow or something!

OK! That's it I think- You don't know how flattering it is to have someone come to you for advice, you make me feel like it looks like I know what I'm doing lol! :')

AND HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY/NIGHT!!

[genericpuff]

Hey, so I really love Lore Rekindled, and the art is one of my favorite parts! The style, the coloring, the background, all of it is just so… smooth! I don’t really know how to describe it. Recently, I’ve been trying to replicate it, and I was hoping you would give me a few pointers. What brushes do you use for line art? How do you decided what to line, and what to leave blank? What about coloring brushes? Do you use smudge brushes? Whats, like, the step by step process? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to! But any tips or answers would be great!

Ah thanks so much!!!

Here are the brushes! They're .abr brushes, so they should work in Photoshop, Clip Studio and Procreate :) (they don't work in Krita or other software that utilizes PNG brushes though, sorry ; ; )

There's also a tutorial included with that file that breaks down my process layer by layer! That said, there are a couple things that have changed in my process since doing that tutorial:

I mostly use the Hard Square Pastel brush now for all of that 'crispy' lighting that often happens along the edges of characters' shoulders and heads, such as seen here:

I now do an extra step of applying a 'blur' layer, where I essentially merge all the layers into a new layer on top of everything, set it to Overlay, and then Gaussian Blur by about 60%. This is how I get that 'dreamy' look that's been present in a lot of the more recent episodes!

It's subtle, but really effective in making the glow effects and deeper colors really pop!

As for the more nuanced stuff like lineart, it's kinda just something I do by feel! Sometimes I'll shade something in and realize the lineart doesn't need to be there, so then I'll go in and erase, other times I have to be a bit more excessive with it esp if two similar colors are up against each other. I'm actually trying to use less lineart going forward to get more of that authentic LO look but it's hard, I'm very used to doing lineart-heavy drawings so it's forcing me to draw in a way that I'm not used to! 😆 I usually always start with flat colors first though, meaning I start by 'shaping' out the character poses and then lining them in afterwards!

You can see an example of this process in my END OF PERSEPHONE time lapse here:

I also usually stream work sessions of Rekindled over on my Twitch, but I'm currently on hiatus from streaming due to technical difficulties (OBS just... decided it was gonna stop working, sigh). Go give it a follow anyways tho so you can be notified when I start streaming again! I'm thinking in the meantime until I can get my Twitch going again I might start doing some screen sharing sessions in Discord. So keep your eyes peeled for that if you ever wanna catch me working! I'm always happy to talk about and demystify the process <3

[amethyst-marshmallow]

My designs for the main 3 numbers!!! (i didnt put x bc i draw him all the time anyway)

Yayy!! Hcs & yapping under cut :3

For all algebraliens:

They have either paws or claws on their hands, their feet area always paws tho (rip One)

They also usually either have a fluffy tail (like four) or a like. line tail? idk what to call it (what One and Two both have) but they r smooth although they can have spikes which are pointyy (One has these, X (not pictured) has some too which resembles barbed wire) (Two's tail is just smooth tho)

They do have a thin layer of fur, it is usually also thicker on their arms than their main body (though sometimes a secondary species can change this). It also gets thicker in the winter! Sometimes algebraliens can have tufts of fur, like Four's heart-shaped tuft (which also has some magenta fur), though it is rare

gender as a concept did not exist for them, since they had no sexes (they reproduce asexually) so they all use all pronouns but the ones who have lived on earth longer sometimes have some that they prefer :3 those r the ones i wrote down but basically just assume a "/any" behind those

Number algebraliens specifically tend to have 2 main colors and the whites of their eyes are colored, they also tend to not really have a secondary species/assigned animal instead having an associated shape :3 though they can have secondary species rarely (ex. my nine is a cat, though he also has a lightning bolt as her shape)

These guys:

One - she/they

Main color is purple-y blue, ik but i had to make it different from four and six also gaty refrence omg periwinkle hahah secondary color is yellow/blue bc it changes omg crazyyy

Motif is crescent moons ofc, the halo is moon shaped and the horns r also supposed to kinda remind u of that

Her horns/halo both glow, but its a softer glow when they turn blue

Two - she/he

Main color is green secondary is purple :3 i think they contrast nice but lmk if its ugly as shit

Motif is circles ik i couldve chosen stars but there is already another green character associated with stars i draw frequently (Vee dw)

Their antennae endpoint ball thingies also glow, she can change how bright the glow is :]

Also shes aroace idc idgaf i see all the two ships as platonic. cry about it (yes this includes both twogaty/gatwo and 2x8 which was literally said to be platonic,, wah wah wah)

Four - actually does not care xd

Main color is blue second is magenta :3 i like contrasting color scheme,, this one idec if ppl think its ugly its fitting but i do like it

I chose hearts for her motif bc mammals have 4 chambered hearts (algebraliens arent mammals but whateverrr) also you can make a heart shape 4 four fingers :) in two different ways!! also it is partially inspired by that one scene in bfb 4

Their design is MY FAV omg i love him sm shes so cool erm yeah

yeah it was hard for me to decide what i wanted to do bc i knew antennae would look ugly for me bc they already have the bnuy ears goin on so i went with whiskers!! and then i put hearts on them :3 i ended up being rlly happy w this design ahudkafsb i hope you love him as much as i doooo,,,

also like i said earlier they do have the Rare! trait of having a tuft of fur and it even fades into magenta omg thats so cool i mostly did it since i knew from far away/in a simlpified form u wouldnt see the tuft but i still wanted to put a heart there so i decided to have it fade like that (even if its not really a "fade" but idk what else to call it xd) so from far away u could still see a magenta heart, like on the chibis

also the heart particles appear when they get happy, this is directly taken from the bfb 4 scene,,, when they get really happy the magic in the particles gets strong enough they become a physical object and they fling off at rlly high speeds >:3

ok lol Fours section was rlly long but i rlly like four shes so silly :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 :3

by.e :D

[up-the-anti]

How do you pick out colors? if you don’t mind me asking! I rlly love ur art, and ik i say this a lot, but gyatt damn it’s so jaw dropping 💕 U fr the goat

oh golly what a question :3

first, let me drop my color history for each piece to show you how chaotic and different each process is + how the initial color choices don't often make the final product:

piece 1 (everyone sleeping) & 2 (jonatello)

piece 3 (april) & 4 (leo)

piece 5 (raph & mikey)

so what you can conclude from above is that:

1) color choices are literally pulled out of my ass. the only SOMETIMES recognizable pattern i have is alternating warm tones with cool tones across the piece to keep it interesting, maintain flow, and prevent an area from being too flat for example:

and more subtly, here

there is no one way to implement this and the oversimplified map i drew above does not completely capture how i use this esp for poor leo and that damn flower field but like u get the gist im sure. for the april one however i planned on this when i started coloring-- the berry bush was initially all middle ground colors, the ivy below it was cool toned to the point where it was looking completely blue, and the grass was all warm toned but that kind of fell apart in the process and became something better so trust the process is also a big part tbh

2) i use SO MANY blending modes (multiply, overlay, soft light, add glow, and glow dodge are my forever go-tos). its always different depending on what i want the mood of the piece to be and whether i knew what i wanted it to look like by the end.

for example, the first piece where they're all sleeping, i had no idea what it would look like by the end and relied solely on one blue multiply layer to bring everything together and make it look like nighttime. i also did this for the jonatello kitchen one and kept on slapping orange/brown multiply layers on the foreground to make sure it was completely distinguished from and didnt fade into the background.

by contrast, for the april piece (i talk about this one a lot damn) i knew i wanted to take inspiration from 2000s digital cameras and as a result made everything more saturated and the lighting more purple (?) from the very beginning to give that effect.

3) curves, contrast, and brightness CARRY my pieces . im never 100% satisfied with the way the colors look until i play with those settings. for more cinematic drawings like this, i always increase the contrast. thats my cheat code especially for the last mikey & raph piece, omg they would have actually faded into the background without that last step. and sometimes when i lowkey hate a "finished" drawing i slap a singular color overlay on the whole thing to make it look more cohesive as a cheat code :P

last example encompassing tips 2 & 3;; this is what it looks like without the orange overlay, backlighting, and multiply layer over the foreground. jumpscare :((

thats all i can think of for now but i hope these somewhat made sense. also by no means am i a professional so take everything i just said lightly, ive never had any formal lessons and am completely self taught so this is what ive come to learn on my own in the past 5 years

[reginalusus]

Retro tutorial?

Disclaimer: Tumblr, for some reason, likes to dullen the colour of the screenshots, just know that they're actually a bit more saturated and brighter than how they appear here.

So, after posting my recent retro drawings on Reddit, and getting some comments that genuinely made me cry (/pos), I noticed I also got quite a few comments asking me how I actually do these drawings.

Er, I'm not the best teacher, really, and honestly, there's probably an easier, faster way to do it. But, this is my way of doing it, lmao. I work on a Gen 2 iPad Pro with a Gen 1 Apple Pencil, just in case you're wondering.

Firstly, here are the four apps I use for this kind of drawing:

From left to right: Sketchbook Pro, Pixlr, Photoleap and CapCut. Sketchbook Pro is what I use to draw everything. You could honestly use any drawing app though. We will talk about the other three when we get to them.

Step 1: draw whatever it is you want to draw.

I'm going to use the first drawing I did in this style to help me explain: my simpy Spamton drawing! Firstly, basically draw whatever your little heart wants. Get your sketch layer down. Here's what my sketch layer looked like:

Looks bad, no? Lol, it always starts that way. Just get your drawing down first. I rely heavy on references for clothing. I found this particular pose on Pinterest. Pinterest is great for finding references.

Notice that I have some spaces filled in with the word 'black'. This is literally just to remind me that the particular space will just be filled with a solid black.

This particular pose and setting is tricky, I'm just using it as an example and because I still have the original files for it. I recommend maybe starting with a portrait or a face first.

Step 2: fill in and clean your lines. This is important, especially for the anime look.

When I do linework, I tend to make the lines thicker wherever they meet one another. For this style, it doesn't really work, and I had to train myself to stop doing that.

As you can see, I made some changes along the way, such as making Spamton's expression softer and making him grin instead of smirking. How do I know when to make something solid black? This is mostly for clothes. If you are following a reference, and you notice that some of the shadows are darker than others on the reference, make those darkest shadows your solid-blacks.

So, here we have the finished lines! Remember: no making the lines thicker where they meet! Keep the lines thin all around. If you're wondering what brush I use in Sketchbook for the finished lines, it's this one:

This is the ONLY brush I use for the retro drawings, besides a pencil for the sketch layer. It provides a nice, solid, thin line.

Step 3: Filling Flat Colours.

The easiest step IMO. Choose your colours, fill those babies in.

Unfortunately, I think I deleted my flats layer (I have no idea why, but I cannot find it, lmao), so I don't have an image to show for this step. But, it's self-explanatory. Just colour it in with your flats.

You can choose saturated colours if you wish, but we'll be editing that sort of stuff later.

Step 4: Shading.

Ooh, the tricky stuff. But this is what will make or break the look of the drawing. Besides lines, shading is important as fuck for this style. I recommend pulling up some screenshots from actual 80s/90s anime. For this Spamton drawing, here's some of the ones I used as a reference:

Remember to make your shading on separate layers! You may want to change their tone and opacity later, as I did.

The shading in old anime is usually done with one colour, which is cooler-toned than the flat it is based off. Remember to keep the shading as simple as you can if you want to actually make it look like a screenshot from an anime or cartoon.

For shadows, I used the multiply tool or the overlay tool. You can mess around with these to see which one suits your drawing best. It mostly depends on the colour.

For 'lights', I used either the soft glow tool or the overlay tool. However, I don't recommend spending too much time 'lighting' your colours. Retro anime tends to focus more on shadows rather than lighting (obviously there are exceptions).

As you can see, the only 'lighting' I used on Spamton was a small section of his hair, and a shine on his suit. The rest is either shadows or flats:

For clothing, follow a reference or follow where your light is coming from. For this, I followed the reference.

Step 5 (Optional): Adding Gradients.

You don't need to do this, but to help with the 'mood' of the drawing, I added a gradient over the top of the layer. I chose a dark purple/blue to give that city vibe, then I used the darken tool and turned the opacity down. So, it looks like this:

The difference isn't much, but it will add a lot to the vibe!

Step 6 (Optional): Backgrounds. *Shudders.*

I'll be real, I can't do backgrounds for shit. Well, I can sort of do them, but I definitely don't enjoy it. If you can do your own backgrounds, this will probably come easier. I have a sneaky, maybe cheaty method, however, to make it look good.

Firstly, make sure any 'windows' or areas in your drawing that you want to add a background to are empty. The windows in Spamton's car here are transparent. You'll want to put your background layer at the very bottom, behind everything else.

Firstly, I choose a solid colour and fill the entire layer. I chose a navy/purple for this one, since it's always dark in Cyber City.

Then, and here's the cheat part, I find a stock image of a city skyline. I deliberately picked one that had sort of 'basic' buildings. Put this on top of your solid colour and use the hard light tool.

The hard light tool tends to focus on the lights and basic outline of the image. I did do some smudging and added some lights to give it that 'retro' feel. The lower quality it looks, the better. So then it looks like this:

But the car needs windows! Easy. I chose a blue colour with the soft glow tool and added them like so (on top of all the background layers):

Step 7: Editing in Pixlr.

Now, this is my favourite part: the editing to really make the image pop! Firstly, we are going to use Pixlr, so save your image and open it up in Pixlr.

So, in Pixlr I only do two things: choose some overlay editors and up the saturation. Firstly, the overlay editors. The ones I choose for the retro look are:

Antonio - this blurs the lines somewhat, and makes it overall darker/softer. I obviously do not use it to its full capacity (there's a slider you can mess around with under each tool to find your desired effect, though I recommend using Antonio only a little.)

Hagrid - this will make it look slightly more saturated and sharper. It also adds a sort of 'burn' effect on each outline of the colours. Again, I use this one only slightly.

Ivan - One of my favourites for Big Shot Spamton. Again, I only use it slightly. This one will add an orange effect and 'fix' some of your shading. Though, it only works to its full potential if you have your shading as best as it can be.

Sara - Another really good one for retro anime. It's sort of like Hagrid, but softer. Depending on your colours, it will also add a soft 'glow' effect. Because of this, I only use it a little, as older anime does not have the intense glow you see in more recent anime, in general.

There are lots of other options. You can play around to see which one will suit the vibe you're going for best!

Then, we go into the general menu and up the saturation if needed!

Step 8: Editing in Photoleap - then back to Sketchbook!

Why the fuck do you use two editors? Simple - Photoleap has some cool options that Pixlr does not, and vice versa. We won't be spending as much time in Photoleap compared to Pixlr.

Now, Photoleap does NOT allow screenshots within the app, so I just have to explain it without any images.

In Photoleap, we're only going to be doing two things, and one of those things are optional. Firstly, using the grain tool. This will really add to that 'old' look. Don't go too hard on it!

The optional thing you can do is add a red chromatic abberation. It's under the 'effects' tab in Photoleap. However, sometimes this will take away from the retro look, so use it carefully. I only used the tiniest amount for this drawing to make the lines look 'cleaner'.

Once I'm done in Photoleap, I save the image and export it back into Sketchbook. This is where I'll add/fix some things, such as adding a shine in Spamton's eyes, a shine on the car window and the smoke coming from his cigarette. I also bring the gradient layer back up and mess with the colour a bit (optional).

Have you noticed the large, black border to the right of the drawing? Yeah, that'll be cropped. I decided to make the overall image smaller and, unfortunately, Sketchbook Pro does not allow you to change the canvas size once you've started a drawing (please add this option, Autodesk!)

Step 9: CapCut Editing.

This will seriously be the cherry-on-top to actually make this thing look like a screenshot. Save your image and open it up in CapCut.

Firstly, you'll want to add an 'effect' to the photo. Under 'retro', I personally choose 'frosted quality', because it adds a moving grain and gives an 'old cartoon' feel, which is what I'm after. There are lots you can choose from, it's up to you to play around with it! You can also adjust the effect as you wish. I tend to turn the blur completely off.

Then, the last step in CapCut: adding a caption, if you want. I make the text yellow and add an italic effect to make it seem like an actual subtitle.

Step 10 (Final): Exporting.

That's us basically finished! I'll export it as a video from CapCut, crop it using my iPad's default editing software in the gallery, then export it as a GIF. Exporting it as a GIF lowers the quality a tad further, which is a bonus for this type of drawing. Viola! You now have a retro-anime-inspired piece!

Final Notes

Again, I'm not a good teacher and this is kind of all over the place, lmao. But, I hope it can guide those who wish to try this style!

If you do try it, maybe tag me and let me see if my tutorial worked for you? Or maybe you were just curious, lmao. There's a LOT of steps here, lol, and I'm not a professional artist by any means, so...

Anyway, that's all from me for now!

[zombiepatch]

Feel free to ignore if you don't like asks, but I really like your art and as a fellow artist would like to ask some questions if that's okay!

Which program do you use? How did you decide on turning anti-aliasing off in your pieces and how do you mitigate/incorporate the rougher look into the piece (you do this very well and I must ask how)? What process do you use for lighting and shading, as seen in your recent Murderbot piece?

Thank you for making awesome art and I hope you have a wonderful day!

thank you!!!! <333 i use clip studio paint and most definitely don't utilize it's coolest features often enough ^^;

full answer under the cut bc this ended up very wordy <3

i used to turn off anti aliasing for nostalgic reasons (drew a LOT in ms paint as a kid) and then i decided i really liked the look and feel and now it's just my go-to comfort zone. i just find it to be a really satisfying way to draw :]

in terms of getting it to look right, i tend to play around w/ it as i go and do a lot of post cleaning-up, along with working on top of the lineart layer sometimes. i tend to draw thicker lineart and then go back and erase edges (or color over edges) to where i want em. feels kinda like sculpting, in a way.

for shading and lighting, i obvi pick where the light source is coming from and tryyyyyy to stick to it. i do the shading layer first (if i'm doing it on a separate layer at all, sometimes i color pick manually for the shading on each color, or sometimes i use one color and a multiply layer. depends how i feel. that last murderbot drawing was shaded with layers) then i invert select the shading layer and do the lighting layer as one color, and usually put it on the soft light or hard light setting, based on how strong i want it to be.

basically the invert selection is so the light and shadow layers aren't overlapping (unless i go in afterwards and overlap em a bit to make a of a gradient between em)

oh! i also will sometimes soften the edges of the shading by lowering the opacity on the eraser and erasing the edges a tad, like on this bit;

i didn't actually do it much on this draw, but occasionally i go kinda crazy w/ it (i also added a teeny bit of glow around the mechanical bits, which was just a blue w/ lowered opacity)

afterwards, i then flatten the whole image, duplicate the layer, and start playing w/ gradient maps! my favorite thing, i love you gradient maps <3

like, here's with and without the gradient maps i put on that drawing;

tldr, a lot of it is just playing around! especially w/ gradient maps. throwing gradient maps on there and playing with different settings until i get something i find cool.

[ironstakes]

Any extra details of Tango’s design in CTiB? 🙏

I’ve been thinking about this fic a lot today, and the drawing is helpful but I’d love to know more <3

Yesssss oh boy do I! So this is all non-official and subject to change unless it is specifically noted in the actual fanfic. I try to keep those depictions vague and and open to interpretation so people can get creative and envision whatever they think is coolest.

I don't think any of my designs are standard. It doesn't help that these are from across 3 or 4 years? Anyway. Have fun!

Firstly, I'll dump some old and new sketches with YCTiB Tango! I'll include some (one) posted here and some (the rest) not posted. Then I'll talk about ideas, thoughts, and the like that I've had and have.

Pictures!

Misc collection added to one pic for convenience (those white bg cutouts are the very first sketches of YCTiB Tango actually):

"Never touch a redstoner's redstone" ch 14. sketch (w-what if the redstone scars glow... O-o); red and blue outlined scar versions:

A fake screenshot attempt I gave up on halfway through based on a part from ch 6.:

The first real (and only) character page for Tango once I had a better idea of what I wanted:

And now words!

I felt that Tango's hair should be somewhat flamelike, largely as I feel as though it fits his personality very well. Very energetic and something humans enjoy, but only while its under control. Tango is as eldritch as any of the hermits. Sometimes the fire consumes everything. With all this in mind I used various fannon fire hair ideas and chose the general shape everyone else seemed to adopt that sort of mimics a flame (smooth at the wick/head and irregular at the top/back).

I personally kept his eyes a brighter red rather than a deeper more blood-like red. The symbolism of blood colored eyes doesn’t apply to Tango, hence my choice. I also think about his eyes glowing on occasion (redstone contamination?), but it is just a fleeting idea for me. I think the eye glow from a story pov should be more sharingan in nature for theming and such, but remember this is my constraint for storytelling! Everyone else is free to do as they wish.

Something NOT in the sketches that I have changed my mind about is that the pattern, if it even exists, would be on the outer greyish purple layer and not the high collared top. This is because I think it would fit in with the kinds of clothes in the Naruto verse more; the outer layers tend to be more decorative and detailed and I figured I could stick with that.

The metal cuffs he wears are mentioned in the story to go along with his kekki genkai. Something I was debating was the use of gems in this modded world and although they have been introduced, I am indecisive as to if his cuffs have any of the gems imbedded in them or not. Something I'll leave to the readers I think! But here were some rough ideas I had. TBH I'd probably change them based on whatever looked coolest at the time, haha....

On the gems- I've been thinking to use them in jewelry of all sorts to replace armor, so I was considering giving YCTiB hermits stud earrings? Just something innocuous, a deceptively simple armor. Tango could rock some white earrings and Etho might have a yellow set? Just something sweet and easily misinterpreted to keep the gag going :3

A huge change-idea I had recently was to replace the “ugly boots” with cowboy boots. I can totally see a cool boot competition occurring! And I mean, have you seen cowboy boots???? They are perfect

The card boots scream Keralis at me! These kinds of shoe design ambiguity opens up a lot of opportunity for cool design choices. These photos are of a boot book I picked up from the library, fyi; it’s called Cowboy Boots by Tyler Beard. An incredible person DMd me some fanart a while back and they chose the classic ninja sandals! Makes perfect sense for Grian, who is rather ninja-ish. It looked really cool. I’d not worry about the shoes too much, feet are weird yet full of opportunity. You could go a lot of places. The only thing specified in the story was that they were leather, and that can be a lot of things. Anything really.

I’ve observed that most Naturo characters have baggy or loose looking pants, or maybe the fabric just bunches up more than I’d expect. Regardless, the pants are always long on guys? So I figured I’d just yoink that and blanket apply it to the hermits. I’ve only seen shorts on women ninja (not civilians) and kids in the show that I can recall. That matches up with the hermit skins so it made sense to adopt (maybe with the exception of Pearl?). The pants going to the calf or to the ankles or being even longer than that isn’t something I have a specific thought train on.

Briefly, I considered glasses for Tango, but they are rather uncommon in Naruto so I passed on them. Nail polish is more common, but moreso for ninja than civilians I think. At least regular, working class common people. The fancy people might have nail polish, but I didn't take too much note of them and their details. Makeup is seen across the board but I'm too distant from make up to do anything with it, much less understand Japanese culture around make up and then extrapolate that into a fictional world. Not even touching warpaint or tattoos. I do image that the hermits would have no need for it though. I like to think that in their regular forms, "changing skins" lets them look however they want. So what is makeup to instantaneous physical alterations at will not limited to color?

He's got the inventory book and a few of the weapon/tool stick things on him. I might doodle up some of those later now that I think of it.

On appearance- the scars as described in the story don't match up with the images. I guess what I am saying is there is flexibility. It exists. I think I described one of the arms as having a large continuous scar? But for the pictures I focused more on making them look like explosions. On that npte, I was reading a bit about burn scars, and they can be shiny. That made me think about the impossible properties of redstone and originally, I thought it'd be cool if the edges glowed, but that sort of morphed into the edges being very glowy and the rest being regular glowy. No idea if this will appear in the fic at any point but it seems like a cool visual.

Anywhozle, remember that fun and creativity are key! Go find weird fun things and see if they fit with the characters/world from what you know and go nuts! I love seeing different ideas and interpretations of everything, including my own ideas. I hope my thoughts help and spark joy, but it's not the gospel. Follow your fun and thank you for asking! I enjoyed responding, but hopefully this avalanche isn't too much to parse through. Feel free to poke me for elaborations or with any new ideas :D

[oldiesstationlover11607]

Spookyface - Tyler Joseph x Reader

Warnings: Crazy fan art

Word Count: 1110

A/N: Bandito battle prompt 3! Not gonna lie, this one was so much harder than prompt 2 bc I don't really write Joshler so it took me a while to figure out what I was gonna do. But I think I pulled through – despite it being shorter. Enjoy!!

Every morning when I woke up I scrolled through my social media. Instagram, Tik Tok, and Twitter (because no one ever calls it X), no matter what platform I loved being tagged in things the fans made and posted. Except this morning I’d been tagged in a particular piece of fan art that caught my eye.

“Uh Tyler what is this?” I pushed my phone into his face. We’d decided to sleep in that morning, wrapped in between the soft sheets of our bed. The late night out we’d enjoyed had completely drained us. Unsurprisingly I’d woken up entangled between Tyler and the wall of pillows I’d built in the middle of the night. 

“Huh?” He rolled over to face me, taking the glowing phone from my hand and bringing it closer to his tired face. “What the–” 

The drawing flashed into his eyes. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the ridiculousness of Tyler’s Blurryface character, his signature red beanie perched on his head, locking lips with Josh’s alter ego, Spooky Jim, who was sporting his unnerving red eye makeup. Tyler’s finger guns added a layer of ridiculousness that made the whole thing more bizarre and funny. My initial shock was quickly replaced by laughter, though, as I processed what I was actually seeing. 

“Wait, I've seen this before,” he passed the phone back to me, laughing to himself. 

“Sorry what?” My brows furrowed as I chuckled, almost in denial. 

“Yeah the fans were super into this ship between Blurryface and Spooky Jim back in the day. This piece of fan art was really popular so we saw it all over social media, I guess it’s trending again.”

It wasn’t the first time fan art had left me speechless, but this one was a whole new level of absurdity. 

“Fans shipped Blurryface and Spooky Jim? Seriously?!” I couldn’t stop the giggle that bubbled up.

Tyler shrugged, still chuckling as he stretched his arms, yawning lazily. “Yeah, you’d be surprised what they come up with. It’s been happening since we started.”

I sat up in bed, crossing my legs beneath me, still holding the phone and staring at the image. It wasn’t the art itself that was unsettling—actually, the quality of it was impressive. The lines were clean, and the shading gave a certain depth to the figures. It was more the concept. 

“Okay, but finger guns? Really?” I snorted, shaking my head. “You’re not that bold.”

Tyler propped himself up on one elbow, grinning as he rubbed his eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I rolled my eyes. “Come on, there’s no way you would ever be doing finger guns while making out with someone.”

“Absolutely I would,” he said with mock seriousness, giving me a playful smile.

We both dissolved into laughter, and I fell back onto the pillows. It was so absurd, but it was also kind of sweet in a strange way. The fans had always been imaginative, but this took it to a new level.

“Do you remember the first time you saw something like this?” I asked as I wiped a tear from my eye, still giggling.

Tyler raised his eyebrows, thinking for a moment. “Oh yeah, it was ages ago. One of the first pieces of fanart we ever saw was of me as Blurryface, like, in the Stressed Out video and Josh was playing drums in the background. It was crazy good. But hey, the fans love it. They’re super creative.”

I nodded, remembering the countless times we had come across these little gems online. It was flattering in a way. The fans cared enough about Tyler and Josh's creations to build entire narratives around them. Still, seeing them depicted as romantic interests was a curveball I hadn't expected this morning.

“Should we… post about this?” I asked, holding the phone up. “Maybe the artist would love that.”

Tyler shrugged again, a smirk playing on his lips. “If you want to fuel the fire, sure. People love it when we acknowledge this stuff, especially the weird ones.”

I grinned, mischievous thoughts swirling. “Oh, I’m definitely fueling the fire.”

I opened Twitter, found the tweet where I’d been tagged, and hit repost.

“Oh no, what are you doing?” Tyler said, watching me over my shoulder.

“Reposting it,” I laughed, typing in a caption. ‘According to Tyler he hasn’t seen this in a while 😂’

Within minutes, the notifications started pouring in. The tweet was being liked, shared, and commented on at lightning speed. The fan base was having a collective meltdown, and I couldn’t help but smile at how excited they were. The artist themselves replied, clearly thrilled that we’d noticed their work, even if we were poking fun at it.

Tyler glanced at the chaos unfolding on my screen and chuckled. “Oh, they’re gonna be talking about this for weeks.”

“Good,” I said, grinning. “It’s fun to interact with them like this. Plus, it’s harmless.”

Tyler nodded in agreement, though I could see the gears turning in his head. He was always thinking about how to connect with the fans in unique ways. We spent the rest of the morning scrolling through the responses, occasionally reading some of the funnier comments out loud to each other.

“Okay, look at this one,” I said, stifling a laugh. “‘Blurryface and Spooky Jim confirmed endgame.” Tyler grinned. 

As the morning passed, it became clear that this little interaction had made the fans' day. More fan art started popping up—some of it equally ridiculous, some of it beautifully serious. There were drawings of Blurryface and Spooky Jim doing everything from solving crimes to baking cakes. Each one was more absurd than the last, and it was hilarious. At one point, I looked over at Tyler, who was lying beside me, scrolling through his own feed now. His smile was soft, almost nostalgic. I could tell he was thinking about how far they'd come—from playing tiny venues to this global fandom that cared enough to create entire worlds around their music.

“You ever think about how weird it is?” I asked quietly.

He glanced at me, raising an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“That all these people feel so connected to you guys that they create stuff like this? Like, it's not just about the music anymore. It's about the stories they build around it.”

Tyler thought for a moment, then nodded. “It’s also kinda beautiful, you know? It means we’ve created something that resonates with them on a deeper level. And if that means Blurryface and Spooky Jim making out, then... I guess that’s just part of the deal.”

I laughed, nodding. “Yeah, I guess so.”

//

REQUESTS OPEN

Tags for bandito battle:

@banditobattlemotherfuckers @the-paladin-gay

[cicidarkarts]

👀, 👒, 🎼 :3

https://www.tumblr.com/cicidarkarts/782767913094529024/ooh-these-sound-so-fun-and-cute-for-my-beloved

👀 ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Matthew's Beautiful Face ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

Oh. He's so gorgeous. I don't even know where to begin. I love his nose. I just want to layer kiss after kiss on that cute little nose.

Featuring live action Matthew nose because *unholy fangirl noises* ALSO SO CUTE

I love his big-ass ears. Sometimes they draw his ears so big, it's silly, but I love them. Soooo cute. Half his face is usually covered up by his fuckass emo bangs (which I love also, omggg, his dorky emo bangs yes please 🖤🖤🖤), but the times we get to see both eyes? 😭😭

UMMM SIDE BURNS HELLO??? 🥺🥺

Look at these wet side burns. Oh my gaawwddd just look at thaaaat 🥵🥵🥵 I just want to kiss them all sopping wet, please and thank you.

And his fucking eyes with that eyeliner, he's soooo cute. I love imagining what he'd look like if his eyeliner got all smudged and/or runny (but bro got that good good, even in the rain that shit stays ON). My beautiful emo man with his beautiful, handsome face, ough 😩😩🖤🖤🖤

👒 ⋆♱✮♱⋆ Style Gush

I actually answered that question here! But here's a Matthew moodboard of him in different outfits looking so gorgeous—my god just kiss me, emo boy

🎼 .˚♪.˖ A Song that Reminds Me of You ♬⋆.˚

So I have a list of songs here that describe my relationship with Matthew I also have playlists here on YouTube and here on Spotify

A song I've not highlighted yet is Would That I by Hozier. Burned by past loves, longing for this to be different. Matthew and I have a similar love story of being used, treating a relationship much more seriously than our ex, being cast aside when we were no longer useful. It's hard to love after that. It's hard to trust that the person you love actually loves you back, instead of craving these stupid, small, immutable parts of you in some transactional way.

And it's not tonight Where I'm set alight And I blink in sight Of your blinding light Oh, and it's not tonight Where you hold me tight Light the fire bright Oh, let it blaze alright, honey Oh, oh, you're good to me, you're good to me Oh, but you're good to me, baby

Loving you. All of you. Not just picking and choosing parts to love. Nothing owed. No tally marks or check boxes. So we can hold one another tight and not be made to feel as though our love is a contract. I fretted fire, but that was long ago.

So in awe, there I stood as you licked off the grain Though I've handled the wood, I still worship the flame Long as amber of ember glows All the "would that I'd loved" is long ago

Felled trees representing how our past loves destroyed us. The fiery rebirth of love, us. Turning old, toxic love to rebuilding ash, all so something new, something stronger, something resilient and beautiful may grow in its stead.

Thank you so much for letting me gush over my handsome Broadway bat!! 🖤🖤🖤

He is so, so beautiful and I am totally feral normal for him. I love how goofy, silly, and disastrous this man is. He has such a huge personality and gorgeous face, he is perfect. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to fangirl!!

[bucketsofmonsters]

Where the Light Enters - Part 3

cw: unreliable narrator, hurt/comfort, slow burn, eventual sex, enemies to lovers, past childhood sexual assault, past sex trafficking, referenced noncon, non-explicit dubcon, panic attacks, happy ending, the tags look scary but this is mainly a story about recovery

Cole/Female Inquisitor

word count: 6k

ao3 link

Masterlist

The Hinterlands wasn’t the worst place in the world. It was warmer than the snow covered mountain she was relegated to most of the time, so she certainly enjoyed that. She didn’t have to wear layers and layers of fur and thus could actually move properly which was a novelty to her at this point. 

It was quite pretty too. She loved the lakes and rivers when things were calm. 

The bears in the Hinterlands were not her favorite. She always brought someone sturdy to send off after them while she stayed far away from the creatures. 

The demons were certainly unpleasant, but that came with the territory when she was the only person that could close their entrance to this world.

It was the sheer quantity of violent humans running around that really got to her. Templars in all colors and mages and venatori and the carta, half of them fighting both each other and her. 

She’d take a hundred unthinking bears over them. 

Her worst fear was getting captured. 

Of course, she would give the Inquisition up in a second and convert fully to the side of whoever captured her, she knew that much. But that wasn’t something she could recover from in the eyes of her current allies and the last thing she wanted was to get on the bad side of a force as powerful as the Inquisition who wanted her as badly as they did. 

Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that. 

In the meantime, they wandered. Cassandra was ready to fight anything, practically begging someone to come up to her. 

That meant being loud and noticeable in a way that was clearly meant to draw attention. 

In the end, they watched Cassandra fight a bear. 

Varric helped, she supposed. He fired off arrows as quickly as his mechanical crossbow allowed him to. 

Rosemary did not help, but then again, what could she do? She wasn’t equipped to fight anything, let alone a bear. 

Cole was up in a tree. When Varric tried to figure out what he was doing, the only response he could pull from him was, “She needs to fight. She needs to know she’s a protector. She doesn’t need my help. I would make it worse, another thing to watch.”

“You’re not a thing, kid,” Varric said as he notched another arrow. 

“She thinks I am.”

“She’s just scared,” Varric tried to reassure him, even as distracted as he was. 

“Yes. Lots of people are scared. I don’t know how to make them stop.”

Despite Cassandra being the one fighting the bear face to face, Varric managed to deal the killing blow with a swift arrow between the ribs. “None of us do.”

They plodded off again after that. 

Her feet were already tired, still unaccustomed to the long treks that being a member of the Inquisition required of her. She wished she had a more sedentary power, or perhaps wished that they could bring the rifts back to her. 

And then, as they stomped along and imagined a world where she didn't have to wander around in bear infested woods, her least favorite thing happened. They found a rift. 

There was something genuinely incredible about them, if you didn’t know how truly dangerous they were. The way it hung in the open sky, a rip in the clear void of the air. The green glow curled at the edges, like it was trying to grab onto the empty air for purchase. 

As soon as they got close enough, its defenses sprung up and all hell broke loose.

Her power didn’t work if she was too far away, so instead, every time they found one, she found the best hiding spot she could and hunkered down, praying her companions would protect her. 

She felt even more exposed than usual. She realized that she’d foolishly forgotten a mage and thus, no one here could cast a protective barrier around her. Likewise, with only one warrior, and a relatively small one at that, she didn’t have a particularly good human shield. 

Varric tried his best, but he was a distance fighter. It wasn’t his fault. 

Cassandra was overwhelmed. One bear was fine, she could focus her attention and do what needed to be done. But here she was too split, with half a dozen demons swarming them. She couldn’t cover Rosemary properly and fight. So she made the choice anyone would. She focused all her attention on the fighting and Rosemary sunk back further behind the rock she’d found that was barely half her size. 

And then Cole looked down at her, making herself small on the floor; he looked at the other two, overwhelmed by demons; and he sprung into action. 

It was mesmerizing to watch. The way he flickered in and out of existence in some sort of cosmic dance, daggers shining in the sun. Each strike was perfectly placed, causing more damage than inelegant swords and spells ever could

He was right. The boy could fight. 

And fight he did. 

Rosemary’s arms rose to cover her head, praying to whatever god these idiots believed in that she’d make it out of this alive. She couldn’t remember what the god’s name was, but she figured she was more likely to respond in this new land so it was worth a shot. 

The chaos began to die down and she peeked out to see a disheveled but alive Varric. 

She rose shakily to her feet, leaning on the rock as she did. 

And then a bright green flickering silhouette appeared in front of her, shaped exactly like a wraith, and she fell back into soft soil.  

Cole drew back into focus out of the green as she breathed unsteady breaths. 

She could see his face like this, from below. It looked unnervingly blank, as it always did. It was like he didn’t know how to paint emotions across it, blank not in a carefully studied way as hers often was, but instead blank in an innocent, unknowing way. 

He just stared down at her, not so much as lifting a hand out to help her up. 

His brows furrowed. “Can you not stand on your own? I thought you just did.”

She stood once more with a sigh. “It’s just polite.”

She raised her hand to the now unprotected rift, focusing on the strange power the fade had implanted into her palm a year ago. 

As she did, the tear in the fade began to close, returning from a green tinged void back to endless clear. 

She flexed her hand as the rift finally sealed itself. It stung a little to close them, leaving a dull ache behind for a few hours after each use. It felt like it had been lasting longer and she worried, not for the first time, that this was doing real damage to her. 

But there was nothing to be done about it. She’d tried to wriggle her way out of this countless times, but it was the one thing they would not budge on. Those rifts needed to be closed, at the expense of her comfort or not. 

“Do they know it hurts?” Cole asked, and she wondered why he didn’t already know the answer to his own question. 

Cassandra scrunched up her nose. “What hurts?”

“Nothing,” she snapped, more ill-tempered than she ever let them see her. 

“The mark,” said Cole. “It burrows into her, aches and rots. The fade isn’t meant to go in a girl, it’s too big for her.”

Cassandra looked like she only mostly understood what he was talking about. “We all have sacrifices we must make to do our part.”

Rosemary did her best to nod amiably, a deep resentment settling in her chest. 

“C’mon Rosie,” Varric said, pulling her to the side. “I’ll see if I can help with that.”

He gave her a salve that didn’t help. She told him it did but made it very clear that she was putting on a false, brave face. 

He gave her a clap on the shoulder and told her she was good as new. 

She was glad Cole didn’t decide to speak up.

They continued plodding along, facing off against a few groups of hostile mages and warriors but no more demons. 

Cole seemed thrilled about the whole ordeal. After fighting a small squadron of mages, he rooted around in one of the corpses’ pockets, clearly looking for something. 

A moment later, he held up a note half covered in blood. “Brothers, tired of fighting. Their hands remember holding each other, their mouths remember smiling. Their cheeks draw up but it never feels the same anymore. He wondered if he was missed when he was struck down, knew he wasn’t. He knew incorrectly,” he announced. “We should give it to him, it wants to be given.”

“If you find who it’s for on the way, you can give it to him then,” she tried to reason with him. 

“He’s behind us. He wonders how his brother fared, terrified he’ll see him in the fight. We killed him. We have to give him the letter.”

“Listen,” she said, turning fully to face him. “If we don’t get moving, more people get hurt. We can deliver letters to grieving family members when people in the Hinterlands aren’t being attacked by demons and corrupted men anymore, alright?”

“Why do you try that on me? I can see inside. It’s for them, a performance. You would never deliver a letter. Their nobility wielded against me, because they want to help.”

It was a miracle Varric and Cassandra seemed as disinterested in these bizarre outbursts as they were. 

She dragged him along, trying to get him to stop saying incriminating things about her. She had to break the instinct to tell him white lies in an attempt to placate him. They were clearly doing more harm than good. 

As they continued along, Cole in a notably worse mood than before, they saw a farm in the distance and she smiled. Finally, some good news. They could acquisition some horses and then she’d be able to rest her feet and not have to walk for miles and miles. 

She walked into the farm house, explained who she was and who she was with, and asked incredibly nicely if they could spare some horses. 

And then they gave them a horse. One horse. For four people. 

Cassandra scoffed at the sight and she silently agreed. If it were just her, she would have stolen more, whether the farmers could spare them or not. But then again, if it had just been her, the one horse would have been fine. 

They took the horse anyway, figuring it was better than nothing. She silently told herself she could run off with it if things got truly dire, abandoning the rest of her party.

She could feel Cole’s eyes on the back of her head as she thought it, an involuntary shiver running through her.  

As they were leaving the farm, horse in tow, a panicked farmer approached the four of them. 

“Please,” he called out to them. “Our druffalo has gone missing. If you see her, could you return her to us? She's our prize animal, we need her.”

Cole’s head whipped around to face the farmer the second they started to speak. 

She’d already begun saying, “we’re incredibly busy,” as his head turned to her, eyes expectant and hopeful. 

The look did nothing to change her mind. 

And then they were off again. They were headed for real civilization this time. She didn’t even know this place had civilization.

Apparently the town was called Redcliffe and they were going to meet mages. It occurred to her for the second time that day that perhaps bringing a mage along would have been prudent. She thought she’d probably blocked that idea out because she could not stand Solas’s smug voice for another week. She’d almost strangled him last time. 

Surely there were other mages in Thedas that were willing to help. She would have taken anyone else. 

She supposed they were going to meet mages now. Maybe one of them loved trudging through the woods and casting protective spells around frightened, incompetent leaders. 

When they got to this town, however, the mages were nowhere to be found. Something about them being taken over. 

At least if the mages were taken over by the enemy, she had templars on her side. This is what they were trained to do, stop rebel mages. 

With no mages to confront, she turned to Varric for some guidance. 

He smiled and said, “Nothing else for it, I guess. Time to go to the tavern.”

She grinned at him, glad she’d brought him along. 

It wasn’t a very big tavern but then again, it wasn’t a very big town. It wasn’t truly small, those sorts of towns didn’t have taverns, just illegal, impossibly strong alcohol being manufactured in someone’s shed. 

Regardless of the size of the tavern, she was glad to be there. It was better than the woods. 

Varric ordered four drinks, handing one to her and Cassandra before turning to Cole. 

“How old are you anyways,” he asked, looking Cole up and down.

Cole looked at him vacantly. “Time passes differently in the fade, I don’t know. This body is twenty. Was twenty. He died.”

Varric nodded, giving Rosemary a pointed look. “Right. You can probably have a beer then. It’ll be good for you, put some hair on that chest.”

“A drink can give me hair?” he asked.

“Not literally. It’s a figure of speech.”

Cassandra eyed the exchange nervously. “I don’t think we should be giving a spirit anything to further lower its inhibitions. He’s already dangerous, the last thing we need is for him to be more unpredictable.”

Rosemary silently agreed, wanting nothing less than for Cole to develop loose lips about things he should be keeping secret.

Varric brushed the concern off. “It’ll be fine, relax a little.”

Cassandra seemed unconvinced. 

“How do I do it?” Cole asked as he looked down the drink.

“Just drink it,” Varric said, and she couldn't help but wonder if he’d ever drunk anything before. 

“But how?”

Varric laughed a big booming laugh and showed the spirit how drinking worked, chugging the whole thing in one fell swoop. 

Cole watched him carefully and then did his best to mimic it. As soon as the liquid entered his mouth he coughed, some of the beer spilling out of his nose.

“Why?” he sputtered out, and Cassandra groaned as Rosemary fought back a laugh.

His head jerked up at that, watching the smile get suppressed off her face in lieu of faux concern.

“You should let it through or your mouth might forget how to smile,” he said, and Varric seemed more concerned by that than he’d been by Cole choking.

“I smile plenty,” she said, the comment effectively souring her mood. 

“No. Real ones.”

She slammed back her drink, wishing Varric had gotten her something stronger.

But she never actually drank, not enough to get anywhere near drunk, it dulled her inhibitions too much. This spirit was really getting to her. 

Varric seemed unphased by the end of the interaction, though she could tell he was still very much interested in Cole. Meanwhile, Cassandra had wandered off. She’d never been one for taverns. 

Varric downed two more drinks before grabbing the pair of them from where they had been sitting, silently, at a table, neither of them doing much of anything. 

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s find somewhere to sleep.”

Varric found an inn, which she didn’t mind. At least it had real beds inside.

Small town that it was, there were only two rooms available. Rosemary wondered if anyone else was staying here or if they only had two rooms in total. She supposed she’d never find out. 

Varric grabbed Cole, pulling him towards one of the rooms and sending her and Cassandra up to the other with a smile. 

Cassandra insisted she sleep on the floor while Rosemary got the bed. She made sure to protest just enough that it looked like she was putting up a fight while still getting to sleep on the soft mattress.

It was a restful night. At least for her. She happily would have stayed another night but she knew it wasn’t in the cards. 

Even if she pushed for another night, eventually they had to leave Redcliffe and then Rosemary was faced with another thing she hated about the Hinterlands. 

She had to camp. 

It was especially hard to stomach after getting to sleep in a big bed in a temperate climate. 

But they couldn’t stay forever, and so off they went. 

It would have been easier on horseback, but all they had was their lone horse and she couldn’t figure out a way to spin her being the only one riding. 

So they walked, leading a horse behind them through the endless woods and mountains. 

Varric sidled up beside her as they walked. “Did you know he doesn’t sleep?” He nodded his head off in Cole’s direction as he spoke. 

She turned to look at Cole, who was off in his own world, carefully placing one foot exactly in front of the other, almost like he was walking a tightrope. 

“I didn’t,” she said, “but it doesn’t surprise me.”

“Me neither. Was hard to sleep with those owl eyes just staring at me though.”

She giggled. “I’m sure. Cassandra snores but at least I wasn’t being watched.”

“Small mercies.”

Cassandra huffed, coming back from the scouting mission she’d sent herself on. They all knew she just got antsy and needed to move, to feel like she was doing something. No one ever commented on it, allowing her the idiosyncrasy. 

Cole was not privy to this silent agreement. “You never find anything. Searching, scouring, seeking. You have to look, someone has to. Someone has to find nothing so they don’t find something.”

“Can someone shut him up?” Cassandra barked. 

Varric just laughed as Rosemary muttered, “Trust me, I’ve tried.”

“Nonsense,” Varric announced. “You can’t get mad at the kid for being right.”

“I can get mad at him for whatever I’d like,” she said, and Cole watched her stomp off. 

“She needs to be mad. Being mad is strong. Being wrong isn’t. It’s alright to be wrong sometimes.”

“It sure is, kid,” Varric replied. “I think someone should tell her that. 

“I can do it,” he said, already taking a step towards her.

Varric caught him by the scruff of his jacket. “Better not.”

They got lost on their way back. 

It was a miracle it hadn’t happened before considering how massive this place was. It was bound to happen eventually. 

But now she was pretty sure they were off the edge of what was recorded on the map. She didn’t make any move to stop them, not wanting to argue with Cassandra, who was still leading them confidently forwards. 

When they entered some sort of tunnel in the stone of a mountain, she knew for certain they were in the wrong place. They were meant to be going back home, how could Cassandra honestly think that this tunnel they’d never seen before was the right way?

But insisting they were going the wrong way would be too assertive and she’d rather someone else take the blame when they did realize, even if it took a few more days before they got back. 

“The mind is unsure but the feet keep moving. It can’t be wrong if they keep moving,” Cole said as he stepped out of the arched pathway. 

Cassandra turned to look at him before facing the front once more, barking back at him, “What does that mean?”

“You know, Seeker,” Varric said, “There’s no harm in backtracking a little. The terrain’s getting a little rough. I’m sure this way is fine for you, but some of us need a more familiar path.”

Before Cassandra could respond with anything, whether it would have been in agreement or something cruel directed at the dwarf, an ear piercing shriek sounded from overhead.

And then Rosemary looked up and saw a dragon flying over them. 

She staggered back instantly, taking cover back in the mountain path. Varric and Cassandra followed while Cole just stood there, out in the open, staring up at the dragon. 

“Kid,” Varric called, but he got no response. 

Varric ran out and dragged Cole back to safety. He peeked his head out anyways, his hat almost falling off with how far he needed to tilt his head back to see it. 

“She’s so big! Why can’t I look? She can’t hurt me. If she attacks, I won’t be there anymore.”

Varric chuckled. “Whatever you say, kid. You know, I killed a dragon once.”

Cassandra rolled her eyes. “My ancestors actually hunted dragons.”

Rosemary was more than content not being able to see the dragon, retreating further into the safety of the mountain. “I didn’t even think they existed. At least not anymore.”

That seemed to upset Cassandra, her brow furrowing. “You did not believe? So you thought the old stories were what? Lies?”

The last thing she wanted was to start an argument with Cassandra. “I don’t know that I thought about it much at all.”

Varric looked back, fingers moving slightly over his crossbow, almost caressing it. “Should I fire a shot as we leave?” he asked. “Say I fought another dragon?” 

Rosemary’s eyes widened but before she could tell him off, Cole said, “They’re all so hungry. That’s why she bites. Too many mouths to feed. No one wanders in anymore. She’s so high!”

His voice swapped effortlessly between the endless narration of others' thoughts to an almost breathy excitement at the dragon. 

If she didn’t hate him so much, it might have been endearing. 

After that, they sorted out how to get back on the right track, although Cassandra did insist upon regaling them with tales of her family's deeds. It seemed an instinct born largely of embarrassment, though she was unsure how being related to dragon killers absolved her of getting them lost. 

At least she hoped they were back on the right track. She supposed she didn’t know. It was less obviously wrong, that was for certain, but she supposed it was no real guarantee. To be honest, she just wanted to find something that would help them to orient themselves on one of the maps. She figured so long as they didn’t run into any more dragons, they should be fine, even if they did take a couple more wrong turns. 

They found no landmarks before the sun began to set and the four of them decided that they’d done enough walking for the day and settled down to camp. 

She preferred this, the smaller campsites without Inquisition troops there. They had more supplies in those bigger camps but she could never shake the sense of unease that came with them. 

Cassandra set up most of the camp, more than happy to do the heavy lifting all on her own. 

Varric was trying to show Cole how to start a fire using a rock and a dagger he’d taken off Cole from wherever he’d been hiding them. The spirit couldn’t quite seem to get the hang of it, although that didn’t stop him from trying. 

It was honestly a surprise that Cole didn’t have any magic, now that she thought about it. She was pretty sure mages got their magic through a connection with the fade, so surely someone who came from the fade should have at least a little magic, certainly enough to start a fire. 

And yet he sat there, smacking the knife into the dark rock. 

He managed to pull sparks a few times, but nothing ever seemed to come of it. 

Rosemary had little to do herself and found herself just watching. 

She also had no clue how to start a fire, but Varric hadn’t offered and so she was content to just watch. 

As Cassandra finished setting up camp, Varric gently took the knife and stone from Cole, sparking it into the little pile of brush he’d formed and almost instantly starting up a small fire. 

Cole drifted over to her as Varric stoked the flame into something more useful. 

“I’m not good at it,” he said, crouching beside where she was sitting on the floor of the forest. 

She shrugged. “Can’t be good at everything.”

“Who’s up for a round of Wicked Grace?” Varric asked as he stood up from the now roaring campfire. 

Cassandra groaned and announced that she would be going to sleep, as they all should, to keep up their strength. 

Rosemary shifted closer to Varric, asking, “How do you play? I’ve never heard of it before.”

“Never heard of Wicked Grace?” he cried in mock offense. “Well, that needs to be fixed immediately. What about you, kid, you want to learn?”

“They all lie face down, never seeing another. Sometimes when he wins he smiles and that they can see. The ace is his favorite, lives in his palm until everything is perfect.”

He laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

She gave him a dirty look. “You better not be palming cards in this game, Tethras, or I’ll bring the wrath of the Inquisition on you.”

“You’re beginners, I’ll teach you to cheat later.”

Wicked Grace was not all that difficult. He insisted that the rules were simple because it was the cheating that made it fun. She practiced palming cards as Cole announced everyone's cards in his little riddles. 

Varric was clearly a practiced player, cheating or not. Cole seemed intent on gathering as many face cards from the deck as he could, repeatedly pulling cards from the middle despite Varric saying it was not allowed. Cole responded that this was his version of cheating and that Varric said they had to. 

Varric had just sighed and allowed Cole to grab the Jack he’d held up his sleeve to add to his hand. 

She ended up winning, not through any merit of her own but because she was better at understanding Cole’s card revealing riddles than Varric was. Cole was technically losing but he seemed to be playing his own game. 

She won nothing, with Varric insisting they’d just been playing for fun and that no one should bet anything real while teaching someone to play.

Somehow, she imagined he’d be singing a different tune if he’d won.

“He would,” Cole said. “Fair’s fair, have to pay a tutors fee. You taught us either way, but we only pay if you win?”

“It was just a joke kid,” he said, giving Cole a pat on the back. “Now, you should both get to sleep. Cassandra will kick my ass if you’re both dead on your feet tomorrow.”

“I don’t sleep,” Cole said. 

“Do me a favor? Give it a shot anyway.”

Cole nodded, content with the new task he’d been given.

They both went to their bedrolls, Cole just sitting atop his while she tucked into hers and went to bed, the sound of the crackling fire sending her to sleep. 

She woke up first. She usually did, always on alert. 

Varric and Cassandra were still fast asleep. Cassandra tended to wake with the sunrise, immediately setting off to work along with the light. Varric always needed to be dragged out of bed, saying that surely they could afford to relax for a few minutes out of their day. 

Rosemary woke before the sun did. Sneaking hours, she’d called them when she was younger. The term felt juvenile now, but at the very least they were aptly named.

Cole was nowhere near his bedroll at all. She spun around with a yawn, looking for him in the treeline, before seeing him crouched on the ground, a spark flying from his hands.

She blinked a few times, willing the world to come into focus as she forced the sleep out of her eyes. He was sitting there with what she could now recognize as that rock in his hand, the other striking the dagger against it. 

She ambled over to him, sitting beside him and his little pile of dry leaves. 

“Careful,” she said with a yawn. “You’ll set the forest on fire.”

His nose wrinkled up, his eyes fully focused on the task at hand. “I want to learn but it's hard, hard to remember when it's not what I was made to do.”

“Who cares?” she asked, leaning back on her arms to watch him. “Varric can already do it, you don’t need to learn.”

“Varric remembers,” he said. “Everything you say. Everything from me too. He files it away for stories and thoughts and because he cares. But I care and it’s still hard.”

“That’s fine. Unless you decide to take up writing, I think you’ll be fine without them.”

He huffed, dropping the rock and sheathing his knife under his jacket. She noted where it was being hidden, glad that it was stored somewhere and wasn’t some magical weapon he could summon. 

“You don’t understand. You remember too, but it’s because you're scared. It means something.”

She hated this sort of thing, the emotional talk about caring that he always cycled back to. Maybe she did want him to remember more. At least that way they’d have more to talk about. 

She was spared from having to respond by the sun waking from behind the horizon, Cassandra following close behind it. 

She kicked Varric gently as she rose and he groaned. “It’s not even light yet, surely we can sleep at least until we can see.”

Cassandra did not let him and before they knew it, they were off again.

It wasn’t long before they reached familiar land and Rosemary was properly assured that they were back on track. 

Her favorite part of traveling over familiar land was that she was guaranteed to not have to face a single rift. They walked for half a day of steady, uneventful travel before they had returned and no one else so much as tried to take their heads off. 

Bull was at the gates. His face lit up when he saw her and she felt her heart stutter in her chest. 

She couldn’t do this. 

It didn’t matter. She would do it because she had to.

She greeted him with a smile, following him happily into the tavern. 

His Chargers cheered as she walked in and she pushed her hair behind her ear, feigning self-consciousness.

A drink was thrust at her and she took it happily, sipping at it carefully so she wouldn’t be too comfortable, still ready to carefully prepare reactions as needed. 

The other Chargers kept talking to her. She understood that it was so she would feel welcome, but she really wished they would leave her alone.

And Bull was all over her. He almost felt pushy tonight. Or maybe she was tired from the trip, leaning into him a little too hard, not being careful enough about the signals she was sending. 

She kept spying Cole out of the corner of her eyes, watching carefully. No one else ever seemed to see him. She supposed it was probably a spirit thing because he was incredibly conspicuous in his looming. 

She wasn’t sure how long it was before Bull pulled her off to his room. She felt a little bit too far gone considering how little she’d drunk. 

She didn’t act it, her responses coming naturally as could be from years of training. 

She had mostly stopped listening to him, at least actively. He said something to her about how she could stop him. She didn’t listen, would just go along with it all. She knew how this worked. She’d been here before. 

She nodded along. It had long since stopped feeling real, this part of it. She had practiced it endlessly, knew instinctively exactly how she should respond, and did it without so much as having to process it. 

She was pretty sure he wanted to hit her. That was fine too, another thing she’d long since become accustomed to. Plenty of men got off on it, although Bull did not seem like one who wanted her to show how much she hated it. 

She played the wooed maiden, entranced by everything he did, completely overrun by pleasure. 

It was humiliating. She preferred when they let her show she didn’t like it. It made her less embarrassed after, at least.

She barely even recognized when it was over, too far inside of herself. 

She felt herself smiling, her throat a little hoarse, although she couldn’t remember what had caused it. 

She grinned and gave him a kiss between his horns as she said something about wanting to go take a bath 

He let her leave with little protest. He at least allowed her that small dignity

She wandered off in a haze, not moving towards her own room. He might check on her if that was where she went. 

She ended up in a little shack, half exposed to the cold and not nearly dressed enough for it

She had no idea why it had hit her so hard this time. She’d been here a hundred times before, it was a well worn tool of hers. It was stupid for it to remind her of before, when she was small. It wasn’t a fight for survival here. She could reap real rewards from it now. She knew the repercussions of her actions, knew what she stood to gain and how it might fall through and not pan out the way she planned. She chose to do this. What right did she have to feel so cold?

And she was fine. She’d slept with men for protection before, would do it again when she left this place. Would do it more, probably, with less of a bargaining chip than her vital, glowing hand provided her. 

She refused to cry, would not allow it. It was a foolish instinct. Nothing productive would come from it. 

She always felt worse afterwards. Weaker. Not like the put on show of weakness she wore like armour. No, that was real weakness, a refusal to do what needed to be done and be able to be content with it. 

Warriors didn’t cry when they killed nor when they were injured. Mages did not cry when their magic stung, ripping into people as it tore themselves apart, just a little. What right did she have?

“They do cry,” said a voice beside her, and she looked up at Cole from the floor. 

She hadn’t even realized she’d sunk to the floor, too lost in her thoughts to take in anything around her. 

He dropped to the ground beside her, something heavy and woolen being wrapped around her shoulders as he did. 

She hadn’t realized she was shaking until the warmth began to set in. Even as the cold faded away, leaving her bones, the shaking didn’t stop. She didn’t know how to make it stop. 

“I can get you something,” he said. “A hot drink, warm you from the inside. That’s where the shaking comes from. I can’t take it away but maybe the warmth will make it less.”

He went to stand up and she grabbed his arm, keeping him on the ground with her. 

She rested her head on his shoulder as he settled back down, furious at herself for being comforted by him. 

Furious at herself for needing to be comforted at all. 

He shifted nervously beneath her for a while before settling down, his hand sliding over to give her arm a squeeze. 

She wondered whose head he’d pulled that idea of comfort from. 

But still, for some impossible to understand reason, she was content sitting there beside him, feeling numb no matter how long the blanket sat around her shoulders.

And then the sun was shining through a broken roof, the morning having come after she’d slipped unknowingly out of consciousness. 

When she woke up she was alone, surrounded by blankets with a pile of dried leaves and a familiar rock lying a few feet from her.

[witchyintention]

How do I make a servitor to lower my hairline or change appearance

Mirror Mirror: Can a Servitor Change Your Appearance?

So you’re sipping your tea, scrolling through your spell journal, and suddenly a wild thought appears:

“Could I make a servitor to lower my hairline? Or change my appearance?”

First off, I love the ambition. That’s some high-level sorcery thinking. Let’s talk about what’s actually possible—and how to make the magick work with you rather than wishing on a metaphysical facelift.

The Why: Yes, Magick Can Shape You

Here’s the tea—witchcraft, especially the kind that plays with thoughtforms like servitors, is less about zapping reality with a wand and more about weaving intention into every layer of being. Servitors are crafted consciousnesses, built to carry out specific tasks. Think of them like spell-powered assistants.

Want to change your appearance? A servitor can:

Reinforce body-image confidence (you radiate what you believe)

Motivate beauty routines or healthy habits (which lead to real changes)

Subconsciously shift posture, expression, and energy (people notice when your vibe upgrades)

Sync your body and mind to work toward hormonal or cellular change (subtle, but not impossible)

In short: Yes, a servitor can help reshape how you look—because it works through you. It’s like handing your subconscious a megaphone and a daily to-do list.

The Why Not: It’s Not Photoshop With Feelings

Now for the realism check. Magick is powerful—but it’s also honest. It works best when aligned with physical action and self-responsibility. A servitor will not:

Sculpt your cheekbones overnight

Rewire your DNA like a CRISPR witch-doctor

Give you someone else’s face from Pinterest

This isn’t “plastic surgery by spell.” If you’re not drinking water, sleeping well, or at least meeting your body halfway, your servitor will be stuck playing Sims with no mouse.

So… How Do I Make One?

If you’re ready to bring your reflection goals to life, here’s a step-by-step guide to crafting your servitor with both mystical and practical bite:

1. Name Your Creation

Pick a name with intent—something that resonates with transformation. Avoid names tied to pop culture or historical spirits. Try:

“Lunara” (light and change)

“Nivix” (from "nivis"—snow, symbolic of shapeshifting)

2. Define the Purpose

Be very specific. Instead of “make me hotter,” try:

“Encourage my hairline to shift subtly forward by boosting circulation and healthy growth”

“Reinforce daily skincare rituals and hydration”

“Shift my self-image and confidence to attract more positive attention”

Write this down as a statement of task—this is their contract.

3. Create a Sigil

Use a statement like “I transform into my ideal appearance”

Break it down into a sigil (use the chaos magick method or whatever system you prefer). This becomes your servitor’s energy tag.

4. Feed the Form

Draw the servitor as a symbol or figure. Breathe life into it through:

Visualization (imagine it waking up and understanding its task)

Offerings (energy, candlelight, whispered words)

Binding it to a physical item (a mirror compact, crystal, pendant)

5. Activate & Assign

Set the rules:

When does it act? (When you look in the mirror, when you're doing self-care?)

How long does it last?

How do you dissolve it if it’s not working or you’re done?

End with a command like:

“Go forth, [Name], and work for my glow-up. So it is.”

6. Check In

Servitors need attention, but not micromanagement. Feed them weekly with focused thought, a charged candle, or an energy exchange (like journaling progress).

Final Thought: Be the Magick Mirror

Your body listens to your thoughts. Your spirit influences your shape. But witch—you are the ultimate spell. Servitors are here to assist, not replace your agency. If things change? Amazing. If they don’t? You’ve still deepened your connection to yourself—and that, too, shifts how you shine.

Remember: You’re not asking the universe for permission. You are the universe, incarnate and aware.

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[roobiedo]

oc-tober 2024 day 10 & 11: personality & symbolism/themes

the kids you probably need to worry about

more leftoverse babies! they're definitely opposites personality-wise, but they both also happen to have the most symbolic roles throughout the story i think? lets just say their journeys include pretty strong pseudo-religious allegories hh

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first up is Mia, or registered alias 'Illumia', who will also go by the codename 'Chamialeon' (hence the symbol) during the... not so bright parts of her future career. Which is ironic, because glowing brightly is kind of her main thing! though due to light manipulation, she can also turn invisible, which is why the moniker stuck. she eventually also figures out how to temporarily siphon her target's powers (literally 'stealing their spotlight'), giving her another layer of camouflage.

Mia is high energy even in her broodiest moments (many such cases). among the main cast, she easily draws the most attention and speaks the loudest, even without ever using her voice! she has a wiiild arc as far as archetypes go, changing from spoiled princess to ruthless rebel to spiritual leader by the end of things. she would be a leia stan yeah

alsoooo that is not the actual cover image for 'It's My Turn Now' but there's no way im putting the d*sney logo anywhere near my art lol. i don't know who that man is. Sorry to miss palmer

also2 yeah mushrooms aren't flora my bad. sunflower then

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next is Pepin, who usually goes by Piper (and Clyde calls him Pip sometimes). he's the forever baby of the group and my poor precious good boy who can do no wrong!!1! 🥺💚 ok that's not true, he always tries his best and has an empathetic soul, but life's hard when you're the unwilling Chosen One who has to constantly dodge prophecies and legacies while carrying the weight of the world on your tiny shoulders. he goes through sososo much :( i love him sososo much :(

Piper's a real laid-back, pacifist type that keeps getting bombarded by Stress and Duties. as such, he's no stranger to skipping classes/responsibilities to go chill somewhere hidden away from the world, which is usually in a forest due to his affinity with nature. many think his thing is controlling plants and healing, and it certainly looks that way, but more accurately its cellular regeneration control. a talent this impressive puts many targets on his back, but luckily he's in good hands until he decides his own destiny <3

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